Spider Woman, Native American Mother of All

The Spider Woman, sometimes referred to as The Spider Grandmother, is portrayed in Native American myth as the Mother who created all life. The woman who sits in the middle of the universe spinning her web connecting all living life to each other. She was honored in tribes such as the Navajo and the Hopi Indians. According to Hopi myth, in the beginning of time, The Spider Woman ruled the underworld, and the Sun God, Tawa, ruled the sky. Together they created the Earth between them, and Spider Woman is said to have molded all the animals and people out of clay. Using her magical thread, she connected all human, plant and animal life together, so that everything in the universe would be spun together in the intricate web of life.

Spider Woman was said to teach people how to weave and plant, she is a Goddess filled with knowledge of the universe and life, so she would also teach people life skills. Some Native American legends represent her as a Mother Goddess of the Earth. She shows us that we are connected to all living things, and we need to respect nature in all her forms. There was also a Spider Woman among the Teotihuacan civilization in Mesoamerica. It is said that she was depicted as a woman with spider like features, such as fangs, and webs, along with spiders surrounding her. She was thought by the people to be a Goddess of the underworld, darkness, the earth and creation. She was said to also be associated with caves, as many Mother Goddesses are, because that is where you would find spiders.

Many cultures around the world have Goddesses that represent the intricate web of life. They represent the web of life we weave for ourselves. We have the power to choose where our next thread will connect too, and create our lives the way we want them to be. Spider Woman also reminds us that all life is connected, and to honor nature and each other. Call on Spider Woman when you need help creating and weaving the web of your own life. When your not sure where to connect your next thread so to speak, call on her for guidance.




Photo courtesy of Susan Seddon-Boulet